Amazon MGM Doubles Investment in Japanese Originals — SkimNews
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- Amazon MGM Studios has doubled its investment in original Japanese content, expanding its slate of live-action films and series without disclosing an amount while targeting an international standard and global audiences.
- Amazon MGM Studios is partnering with Korea’s Studio Dragon and Japan’s Credeus, Toho, TV Tokyo and Wowow to ramp up Japanese live-action and anime production, primarily for Japanese audiences with international distribution as the stated goal.
- The Apothecary Diaries adaptation will star Mana Ashida as Maomao and stream exclusively worldwide on Prime Video in 2028, co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Toho.
- Chloe And Emma was produced with Wowow and has been streaming on Prime Video since June 2026.
- Criminal was produced with TV Tokyo, directed by Daishi Matsunaga and released on Prime Video in March.
- Credeus established CK Works with Kodansha to hold rights for a Blue Lock feature, addressing production companies’ difficulty covering high costs without retaining IP; the rights-holding model is becoming more common globally.
- One Piece required three script versions after Netflix requested a less expensive option, with showrunner Steven Maeda saying fan fidelity was the priority in an eight-episode adaptation drawn from a manga with hundreds of installments.
Why it matters: Prime Video’s slate is expanding beyond aggregation, with The Apothecary Diaries set as a worldwide exclusive for 2028 and Chloe And Emma already streaming since June 2026. The operational consequence is greater reliance on Japanese creators and partners as Amazon pursues global reach, while Credeus’s rights-retention structure addresses production companies’ inability to recover high costs.
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